A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
CEC Lumberjacks Taylor Nelson (5) works to clear the puck away from Superior Spartans Lily Walrath (10) and Isabel Franta (22) during Tuesday nights matchup at Northwoods Arena in Cloquet.
CEC Lumberjacks Kiana Bender (21) scores a goal in the second period against the Superior Spartans Tuesday night at the Northwoods Arena.
Junior forward Taylor Nelson scored her third straight hat trick Tuesday night as the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton Lumberjacks defeated the Superior Spartans 7-0 in a Lake Superior Conference matchup at Northwoods Credit Union Arena.
The Lumberjacks have been rolling offensively since the team resumed its schedule following the holiday break, winning seven straight games. CEC has outscored its opponents 17-2 in the last three contests and improved to 13-3 on the season.
"Overall, we are happy with the offensive scoring we have produced in the last few games," head coach Cortney Olin said, "but our goal and focus at this point of the season is to be playing our best hockey come playoffs in February. Based on our last few games, I believe we are headed in the right direction."
Nelson has been a huge part of the offensive surge as she now has 25 goals on the season and is ranked eighth in the state in goals scored and 10th in the state in overall scoring. Kiana Bender ranks seventh in the state in assists while she is also in the top 15 in scoring in the state.
Coach Olin credited the team's power play for the success in the offensive zone.
"Our power play has really started to click and we are happy with the chemistry they have been producing," she said.
The Lumberjacks returned to play following the break with a 4-1 win over the Duluth Northern Stars in Cloquet. Nelson paced the 'Jacks with three goals and one assist on the night, and Bender scored the other Lumberjack goal. Dea Deleon ended with three assists on the night and Elise Lund stopped 20 shots in the victory.
Saturday saw another offensive onslaught as the Lumberjacks downed Hayward by a score of 6-1 in Ashland. Nelson and Dana Jones scored first period goals to give CEC a 2-0 lead after the first period, Deleon made it 3-0 for CEC with the second period's lone goal, then three third period goals sealed the win. Nelson scored twice and Lexi Cooke added her first goal of the season in the win. Nelson added two assists for a five-point performance Saturday while Bender added three more assists to her season total.
On Tuesday night, CEC was back at Northwoods Credit Union Arena and again the 'Jacks were off to a fast start as Dana Jones scored twice in the first period, including a shorthanded goal. Nelson also tallied a shorthanded goal as the Lumberjacks led 3-0 after one period of play. The second period saw Nelson complete the hat trick and Bender also scored, making it 6-0 in the 'Jacks favor. The only third-period goal was off the stick of Bender as she scored her second of the game, and the 'Jacks won 7-0.
"We have a tough road schedule against some top-ranked competitive teams in the next few weeks," Coach Olin said.
"So we are going to continue to focus on cleaning up our defensive zone and carrying that defensive mindset throughout the month of January and into February."
CEC will face Marshall Thursday night in Duluth, the first of five straight games on the road. Saturday they will travel to Cambridge, and next week they will have three tough section contests against Hibbing-Chisholm, International Falls and Proctor-Hermantown.
